


White Snow

by CandyBear242



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Amnesia, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood Drinking, Cute Dog, Gay Male Character, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Snow, Vampire Hunters, lots of snow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-08-26 03:03:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16673497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CandyBear242/pseuds/CandyBear242
Summary: "Vampires had come to that village in the middle of nowhere twenty years ago. The clans multiplied and started threatening the peace that reigned in the town, mercilessly killing everyone that stepped in front of them. The forest had ceased to be a safe place at night, as it was invaded with those infamous creatures every night."One night, a young man appears on the edge of the forest, unconscious and injured. No one is able to recognize him or confirm whether he'll be dangerous or not.





	1. The boy

The night was cold, just like every night around there. The group of hunters went tense, prepared for the imminent attack. Among them, a young man fixed his gaze on the edge of the forest in front of him, trying to find, in the darkness, any kind of movement that signaled the presence of other individuals that weren’t part of his team. But, at the moment, there was just silence, barely interrupted by the footsteps on the snow of his companions and the breeze that blew through the trees.

The young man tightened his grip on the crossbow he carried on his hands and looked around. The forest was as dark as ever, with bushy trees rising bravely in the snow on the ground, but not high enough to cover the full moon above them. Behind them, the houses in the village looked like little dots of light in the distance. This was his town, a small village in the middle of nowhere only surrounded by a dense forest always covered with snow. And even if it was a small town, it wasn’t particularly peaceful, as every night it was filled with crying and screaming.

A young woman with short chestnut hair and sharp blue eyes put a hand on his shoulder.

“You're too tense, Adrien.” She whispered, laughing quietly, which made her features soften. He gave her a side glance and huffed. Without saying another word, he moved slightly away from the group, starting a search on his own. The snow crunched under his leather boots. But, suddenly, that wasn’t the only sound he heard in the silence of the night.

A laugh in the distance, as soft and musical as that of a child came out of the trees in front of him, accompanied by another very similar one. Adrien didn’t move. They weren’t yet in sight and he couldn’t say for sure where they came from or how many they were exactly. He knew they were fast. He knew his kind. That's why he couldn’t lose his concentration.

The first cry was heard behind him. Adrien stopped breathing. It was clear that he had heard those laughter in front of him, too far from his position to be able to distinguish his figures. However, the attack happened behind his back. The young man turned quickly, raising his crossbow and aiming towards the group. In the end, there were only two of them. They stood proudly among the group of eight hunters, playing with them, dodging their blows and hitting them as if they were mere puppets.

The woman, who looked only thirty years old, had long dark hair and it fell on her shoulders like a dark veil of silk. Her complexion was pale and her eyes red like rubies, just as her companion’s. He was a man in a similar age gap as her, but he had much shorter hair and seemed unable to control his laughter. Every time he opened his mouth to laugh, his sharp fangs showed between his lips, stained with blood.

“Too easy.” Adrien said under his breath, aiming at them. But it wouldn’t be as simple as he thought. He was a good crossbowman, but he wouldn’t be able to hit the targets unless they stopped moving or unless his teammates stepped aside a little bit.

His umber eyes didn’t move away from those two figures. He followed them quickly with his gaze, trying to guess the precise moment when he could shoot his arrow. He took a long breath. Seconds passed in which Adrien tried to calculate what would be the best moment until the trajectory became clear in front of his eyes. Holding his breath, he shot his arrow, hitting the male vampire’s chest with it. He instantly stopped laughing. The young woman who had once placed a hand on his shoulder looked at him out of the corner of her eye and smiled at him with pride. Adrien could not help but smile back at her and, feeling like he had finished his job, he lowered his crossbow.

With one of the opponents down, it would be much easier for his teammates to defeat the second, who had been left alone. Soon the night was filled again with silence.

Diana, the young girl with short hair, approached him once everything was over and ruffled his brown hair like a sister would do to a brother. She was laughing again under her breath.

“Man... what would we do without you?” She said, jokingly. Adrien flushed.

“Stop giving me credit for that. You know I was very slow. I could’ve prevented the attack if only I’d seen them earlier.” He said, trying to be modest. She raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth, ready to reply with what would certainly have been a witty reply. Adrien continued talking, preventing her from doing just so. “You were the one that predicted tonight’s attack. If it weren’t for you, tonight would’ve been very different.”

“Are you thanking me?” Diana asked with a roguish gleam in her eyes.

“Maybe.” Adrien answered briefly.

But that answer was enough to raise Diana’s ego a bit. She stepped forward to get in front of him and did a hair flip in a gesture that was ridiculous on her as her hair was too short. Adrien just laughed fondly.

The young man began to relax, knowing that after everything that had happened, the rest of the night would be a little calmer. He could go back home, maybe have something to eat and go to bed. The feeling of rejoicing at having done something good filled him with calmness. Maybe his job wasn’t the easiest one. Maybe it included many risks, like the always present danger of being killed. But it was comforting to go home knowing that, thanks to him, more than one life could have been saved.

Vampires had come to that village in the middle of nowhere twenty years ago. The clans multiplied and soon they started threatening the peace that reigned in the town, mercilessly killing everyone that stepped in front of them. The forest had ceased to be a safe place at night, as it was invaded with those infamous creatures every night.

A few months after the arrival of the vampires, when Adrien was barely five years old, a small group of hunters was born. They were meant to fight these creatures and restore the peace that once reigned in the village. The happiest day of Adrien's life was when he finally managed to get into this group and became a hunter. Now he lived at peace with himself and came home relaxed, as on that night.

But the night wasn’t finished yet.

“Hey, what’s that?” Someone behind him asked. Quickly, all his teammates turned around, looking at what the speaker had pointed out. In the distance, on the edge of the forest, there was something moving in the shadows. It was getting closer to them with slow steps. Tension suddenly grew in the team while they watched. But that figure barely took another couple of steps before collapsing into the snow with a faint noise.

Immediately, the whole group ran towards it. Some carried and charged their weapons in a hurry, thinking of finishing it off whatever it was. Some even thought that, maybe, it was one of the two vampires that attacked them before. But Adrien saw beyond them.

“Stop, stop! Don’t shoot!” He said, raising his hands to stop his companions.

Their guns were still aiming at the creature, but several fingers moved away from the triggers. Adrien, along with several men, crouched next to that figure. Its blood began to stain the snow red and, due to its abundance, it’s face was hardly recognizable. But it wasn’t one of the two vampires they had encountered before. It was a kid. He looked barely above eighteen and he was so bloody and badly wounded that he couldn’t even move. Diana’s hand touched his neck firmly, looking for a pulse.

“He’s still alive.”

 

* * *

 

 

The night, which seemed so quiet after the attacks, suddenly went way noisier. Half of the villagers woke up to see what was happening. The hunters were bringing someone. But nobody was able to guess if the boy was a human or a vampire. Adrien had drawn his own conclusions. It was impossible for vampires to hurt one of their own in that way, so the boy had to be human. But that did not explain why no one in the area recognized him, even when his wounds were cleaned and bandaged, and his face wasn’t covered in blood.

Adrien didn’t take his eyes off him, with a frown and fingers on his lips in a reflective expression, he analyzed him in silence. The boy really looked very young. He was very pale, almost sickly. But that didn’t mean anything, because the scarcity of sun in the area made everyone very pale. His hair was dark, short and curled down on his forehead. Diana, after examining him, had confirmed that his eyes were not red, but blue. She also said that his wounds were deep and serious, mostly on his neck and arms. And they looked as if they had been done with a sword. Diana moved away from the temporary stretcher where they had placed him once she had finished bandaging the boy. She approached Adrien with an expression as unfathomable as his.

“I think he's human.” She finally said, sounding very confident in what she was talking about. “His wounds aren’t healing as fast as a vampire’s would.”

After saying that, she remained silent. Adrien didn’t know what to say either, so the silence began to reign in the room that was an impromptu hospital for the kid. Adrien didn’t stop looking at him, asking himself a thousand questions about the situation, trying to find an answer. But with every second passing, it seemed clearer that they wouldn’t get any answers until the boy had woken up. And they didn’t know when that would happen.

“What are we going to do with him?” Finally, Diana broke the silence, enunciating the question Adrien couldn’t get out of his head.

“We can’t leave him in the forest. He’d be killed in a minute.” Adrien answered.

“And what are you suggesting exactly? I can’t take him, you know?”

“No...” Adrien said firmly. She looked at him sideways, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms over her chest. Adrien was silent again for a moment before making a decision he knew Diana wouldn’t like. “But I can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone and welcome to my first fanfic (or story, to be more specific). Thank you to everyone who gave it a chance and read it ♥ There's still more to come, I'll try to post a new chapter every week, so stay updated!


	2. Aweakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boy suddenly wakes up, but something is not quite right.

At first everything had been white. White as snow. But then everything he saw before his eyes was black. He wouldn’t remember anything past that moment.

When he opened his eyes, he was dazzled by the amount of white in front of him. He blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust his eyes to the amount of light that came through the windows. At the moment he was only able to see the ceiling over his head, but the sound of footsteps beside him made him turn around to see who was accompanying him. Lazily, he rose a hand to his eyes, rubbing them gently to clear them. But that simple gesture made the man accompanying him in the room notice his presence. Soon enough he was by his side.

He was a young man, tall and around twenty-four or twenty-five years old. He was pale, but the whiteness of his skin was not as noticeable, as it matched well with his brown hair which wasn’t particularly long, but was completely disheveled. The man's brown eyes watched him warily.

“Good morning.” He said in a soft and measured voice. His voice was calm, but firm. He realized then that he didn't know the man at all. Shaken up, he tried to get up quickly, as if wanting to move away. But the man's hands immediately rose in a defensive position. “Hey, calm down, kid. I'm not going to hurt you.” It seemed like his eyes were trying to tell him to please stay still. At the moment, he decided that the best he could do was to obey. “He isn’t going to hurt you either.” Calmly he lowered his hands and pointed to a huge dog beside him.

The boy flinched, as he hadn’t noticed the dog’s presence so far. The dog was big and his fur was mostly white, but with black and brown spots here and there. His blue eyes watched him from the edge of the bed. He was lazily resting his snout on the mattress. The boy looked away from the dog and turned his eyes toward the man.

“Hello.” He finally said. The man relaxed hearing him. But the boy was still confused. His own voice sounded strange, as if he was hearing it for the first time. He tried to sit up again, slowly this time. He leaned his back on the backboard of the bed and remained seated. “Where am I? Who are you?”

The man sighed. Cautiously he sat on the edge of the bed before answering.

“You're safe.” Was the first thing he answered. The look he shot him seemed significant, but the boy didn’t quite understand it. The man continued talking. “My name is Adrien and this is my house. We found you on the outskirts of town with some... wounds.” The way he said that last word sounded strange. He pointed at him with his head and the boy, for the first time, noticed the state he was in. There wasn’t a part of his body that hurt, except for his head. However, he was covered in bandages. His arms, his neck... He probably had more under his clothes. His eyes were suddenly filled with alarm. “Do you remember anything that happened?”

He shook his head at his question. He only remembered seeing white before everything went black. But Adrien had said he was safe. Did that mean that at some point he had been in danger? Why couldn’t he remember anything then?

“What’s your name?” The man asked him, suddenly looking at him very carefully. The boy’s confusion grew stronger. He could hear his own heartbeats pulsating in his head and the continuous questions of that man to which he couldn’t answer only agitated him more.

“I… I don’t remember” He said with a small voice. He looked down at the dog that still watched him from the edge of the bed. Why couldn’t he even remember his own name? He tried to remember, but there was a void too big in his head, a black void he had no access to and trying to remember only made his head hurt more. He flexed his legs and curled into a ball, pressing his right hand to his temple, as if that could alleviate his discomfort. “I can’t remember...” He repeated, distressed.

Adrien raised a hand, as if thinking of comforting him, but seeing that the boy only flinched more, he decided to move it away.

“Hey, it's fine. It’s normal for your mind to block certain things after a big trauma. Don’t worry about it, you’ll remember with time.” He assured him. His voice sounded calmer. The boy raised his gaze to look at the soft brown eyes of the still unknown man in front of him. Adrien smiled softly. “However, until you get your memories back, you will need a new name. How about Marco?”

The boy blinked, trying to get used to the situation he was in. He took a breath, trying to relax.

“Marco, yes... Yeah, I guess it’s okay.” He answered. It was not a major breakthrough at all, but at least it was a small step that man -Adrien- was helping him take. Adrien smiled, pleased, before the dog barked once, startling them enough to make them both flinch. The man looked at his dog and, enlarging his smile, began to scratch between the ears of the dog, who immediately began to move his tail, pleased.

“It looks like he likes your name too. His name is Zhor, by the way. He’s been watching over you all night.” He said, smiling, without taking his hand away from the dog.

The boy -Marco- dared to raise a hand slowly, approaching the dog. Zhor stayed very quiet, just like his owner, but, after a few seconds, he let Marco pet him too. Marco couldn’t help but smile faintly at the softness of the dog's fur.

“Thank you, Zhor.”

But Adrien quickly rose to his feet and Marco pulled his hand away, looking back at him. He blinked a couple of times. Adrien went completely quiet. He seemed to think about what he was going to say next. His gaze, still fixed on him, became mysterious, almost dark.

“Are you hungry?”

Marco raised his eyebrows, surprised by the sudden question. He hadn’t had much time to think about a small detail like that. But now that Adrien had mentioned it, he began to be aware of certain things he had overlooked. Unconsciously he put a hand to his neck, meeting the soft touch of the bandages covering his skin.

“Hungry? No, not really.” He answered quite confidently. He still didn’t know what that question was all about, but the answer made Adrien visibly relax. “But I’m quite thirsty. Do you have some water?”

Adrien, who seemed to be holding his breath, let out a long sigh and smiled, approaching the bed again. But far from sitting down, he went to the bedside table and picked up a glass of water that he had already prepared for him and handed it to Marco. He drank it in one gulp.

“You said that I was safe now. What happened for you to say that?”

The question seemed to catch Adrien off guard, he raised his eyebrows in a surprised expression. Patiently, he sat back on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, well...” He seemed to evaluate again what was the right way to say what was going through his mind. “It’s possible that you were attacked. In this town that kind of thing happens quite often. We don’t know for sure, but when we found you, you were covered in blood. We brought you here and we did everything we could to heal you.”

Adrien remained silent for a moment, waiting for Marco to assimilate that information before proceeding. Marco thanked him for that.

“I brought you to my house in case there was a problem. Maybe it's silly, but we though that, after what happened to you, you'd want to join us. I can train you if you want.”

That's when Marco began to get lost. He raised a hand, asking Adrien for a little time, the man immediately fell silent.

“Wait… train me? What do you mean with ‘joining you’?” He asked, suddenly confused by this new information that didn’t seem to make any sense.

“What I mean is, if you want to be a hunter, I'll train you.” Adrien seemed to speak with a tremendous solemnity, but Marco raised a brow, more and more skeptical and confused.

“Hunter? You mean... I was attacked by a bear?” He asked seriously. But the question seemed very funny to Adrien, who suddenly started laughing. Marco frowned.

“No, no. I mean, who knows? Maybe I'm wrong and a bear really attacked you.” He chuckled again. Marco didn’t find it funny. “But that’s not the type of prey we hunt. We hunt vampires.”

“Vampires?”

“Yes.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“I’m serious. I wouldn’t joke about such a thing.”

And for some strange reason, Marco thought he could believe his words. Because nobody would play a joke with such a serious expression. No one would joke with such a deadly tone of voice, as if he had spent all his life dealing with that problem. It took Marco a moment to absorb that. It was impossible for those words to be true. Vampires only existed in legends. But maybe that explained why he didn’t remember anything or why he was so badly hurt. Marco's eyes fell on the glass he still held in his hands. His mind seemed to be thinking at full speed, which did not help with his headache. He looked up, suddenly frightened. It had been at least two full minutes since someone had spoken in the room.

“If they attacked me, does that mean I’ll become a vampire too?”

Adrien’s eyes appeared softer as he felt the honest fear in Marco's eyes and voice.

“I don’t think so. You’d need to take the blood of a vampire to become one of them.” He answered softly. Marco’s fear grew with that answer. Adrien spoke of acts and creatures so atrocious with an unnatural nonchalance, as if that was what he lived and talked about every day. Marco couldn’t even think about any of it. Although, it was somehow comforting to know that he wasn’t one of those creatures.

Silence took over the room again. Adrien was giving him time again to think and get familiar with the situation. Suddenly Marco was handling too much information. He remembered nothing of his past, nor of his own name. He had probably been attacked by a group of vampires and, fortunately, a group of hunters had found him. Now he was in one of their houses. And one of them was offering help.

Marco really didn’t know anything about himself, where he came from or if he had family. He couldn’t go back, as his past was completely blurry. Which left him with only one option: he could only go forward with what he was being offered.

“I think... I would like to be a hunter.” He finally said, fixing his gaze on Adrien's. He was looking back at him.

Adrien rose slowly from the bed and took Marco's glass from his hands. His expression was far away from the seriousness he had shown at the beginning of the conversation. But Marco still felt that he didn’t know the man at all. And he didn’t know if he could trust him either.

“We'll talk about that tomorrow.” Adrien said. Marco said nothing, so the older one continued. “You need to rest first and there are people who will want to see you.”

Marco looked down and simply nodded. He wasn’t especially tired. He still had too many things in his head, but he understood Adrien's point of view. He had just awakened after being attacked. It was normal for him to rest before making any hasty decision.

He looked up to see Adrien leave the room with Zhor. The man gave him one last look before closing the door, giving him some privacy. Marco knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep easily. He would spend all day and all night pondering on everything he knew now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're liking the story so far. Thank you so much for reading and leaving kudos!  
> Stay tuned for a new chapter next Monday.


	3. Decision

The mornings, as expected, were always very different from the nights in the village. People took their time to eat breakfast and do their jobs, free of worry or fear. Adrien was one more of the bunch. The morning was his favorite moment of the day and he would be lying if he said he didn’t like to get up early to prepare breakfast. That morning, he also knew he’d have to prepare food for more than one, which was a novelty.

Zhor had disappeared from his side several minutes ago and was wandering around the house looking for something to do while Adrien was entertaining himself in the kitchen, cooking various dishes, as he still didn’t know what his guest would like. He was heating a pan to cook some bacon when he heard a gasp behind his back. He turned to see the boy at the kitchen door.

He seemed to have difficulty handling the huge dog that slipped between his legs, curious and entertained. The clothes that Adrien had lent him when he had arrived were big on him, so his movements were also slightly awkward. Adrien smiled at him.

“Good morning.” He greeted calmly. Marco looked up to glance at him. His expression became somewhat more contained. Maybe even fearful. Adrien continued the conversation when he saw that the boy would probably stay quiet. “Come in, I was making breakfast. Which do you like better, waffles or bacon?”

“I don’t know.” Marco answered simply. Adrien saw how it was difficult for him to get away from the dog. Marco reached the kitchen table, sitting on one of the chairs.

There was some doubt in his eyes that Adrien still couldn't figure out. He seemed focused, his eyes fixed on the plate and his lips slightly pursed. Adrien knew he had to give him more time, so he didn’t press him to talk. Eventually, Marco decided what he wanted to say.

“I-I... I wanted to ask you about ...”

But as soon as he began speaking, the front door of the house opened with a crash, making both of them jump on the spot. She entered like a hurricane through the kitchen door, short hair full of snow and a huge smile on her face. The dog barked happily when he saw her and practically threw himself on her before she could take off the huge coat that she was wearing. She tried to handle the dog with difficulties, although with joyful laughter.

“Adrien! What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You still have to...” She began to speak with a powerful voice. But she stopped when she looked up and noticed that the brown-haired man wasn’t alone in the room. Her blue eyes met Marco's and for a second, Adrien thought he saw hers shining with emotion. Her smile was radiant. “The kid’s still alive!”

Adrien snorted and turned his attention back to the pan he had heated, tossing a couple slices of bacon in it.

“He woke up yesterday morning.” He answered briefly.

“And how is it that nobody in the whole town knows? There are people who still want to see him and ask him a couple of things, you know?” Noticing he was being reprimanded, Adrien said nothing and kept his attention on the bacon. Diana quickly finished removing her coat, hanging it by the entrance and approached Marco with curiosity, leaning towards him. Adrien could see out of the corner of his eye how Marco tensed at the young woman's closeness. “My name is Diana. Do you speak our language? What’s your name?”

“Yes. I... uh... I don’t remember it.”

“How is it that you don’t remember? Adrien, what is he talking about?” The questioned man sighed.

“He says he doesn’t remember anything that happened before he woke up. Not even his name.” He explained with conviction. “I suggested that ‘Marco’ could be a good name and he liked it.”

Diana didn't take her eyes off him, as if trying to see through Adrien with her blue eyes. Her expression was slightly stern when she approached Adrien. She lowered her voice, possibly pretending to only be heard by the eldest one in the room. But Adrien knew Marco would be able to hear them perfectly.

“And it hasn't occurred to you to think that he could be deceiving you? Maybe he's one of them and he's trying to convince you otherwise.” She observed. But she didn’t seem as focused on her reprimand as on trying to catch some of the bacon Adrien was cooking directly from the pan. “You should’ve told the rest of the team. It is not advisable to put a potential enemy in your own home. I know you know how to handle them. But fighting alone against a vampire is...”

Tired of her false reprimand, Adrien lightly slapped the young woman’s hand, who pulled it away from the bacon.

“Find your own breakfast.” He said. Diana pouted and tried to steal some bacon from the pan again, to which Adrien, amused and laughing softly, began to push her to get her away.

Curiously, both seemed to forget the presence of a third person in the room. When Marco spoke, he took everyone's attention in the room.

“Oh… I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”

Adrien choked on the air he breathed and began to cough while Diana beside him burst into laughter, practically bending in half at that comment. Adrien was as flushed as Marco now and, as soon as he calmed his cough, he nudged Diana to stop laughing.

“We're not... Oh God, we're not a couple. I'm like her brother”

“More like a bother.”

Adrien nudged her again, but this time Diana dodged elegantly and approached the table again, sitting next to a very blushed Marco. She took one of the waffles that was already on the table and put it in her mouth. She was still chewing the waffle when she spoke again.

“Let's change the subject before I lose my appetite. Did Adrien say anything about your training?”

“Actually...” Adrien interrupted, looking at them with seriousness. “We haven’t made any decision about it yet.”

“But I want to train.”

This time it was Marco who interrupted the conversation and the conviction of his words made both Diana and Adrien stare at him intensely. Adrien did it with curiosity, but also with some hesitation. While Diana’s eyes returned that fun brightness from just a moment ago. She smiled at his words.

“I like this kid.”  She said laughing. Adrien opened his mouth to say something, but closed it instantly and took the coffee mug next to him to take a long sip of it. Diana addressed Marco this time. “If that big guy doesn’t want to train you, tell me and I'll take care of it.”

“No.” Adrien cut into the conversation sharply. It was starting to get him tense. “I said I’d train him.”

The look Marco gave him at those words was full of surprise and maybe a certain admiration. Adrien didn’t look at him. Diana, meanwhile, looked at the two with astonishment.

“Do as you like.” Said the young woman, shrugging. Diana rose from her chair and without asking permission took a couple of hot waffles from a plate and walked away from the table. “But do it soon. It seems that the boy can move without problems. Remember that you’ll have to report it to the others as soon as possible too.”

Adrien nodded and flopped down on one of the chairs. Diana waved her free hand to say goodbye to both.

“Nice to meet you, Marco. See you around.” She said effusively and putting one of the waffles in her mouth, she put on her coat again and went out the door.

Now that the girl had disappeared from the room, the silence settled again between the two. Adrien snorted, while Marco deflated like a balloon in his chair, loosening his shoulders. The older one already felt his head spinning at the thought of what he had to do and the mess he'd gotten himself into. Because nobody ever asked him to stay with the boy. He'd done it because he wanted to.

And now he’d have to tell the team all his steps, he’d have to train the boy and, perhaps more importantly, learn to live with him when he didn’t even know him. Tired, Adrien rubbed the bridge of his nose with reluctance. Then Marco's voice rose again, restrained and somewhat hopeful.

“So... Is it true? Are you going to train me?”

There was something in his voice that Adrien still could not decipher. It almost sounded like a plea, a request that Adrien couldn’t ignore so easily. There was innocence in that voice, but also a completely justifiable fear. Adrien looked up at Marco. He looked back at him with his deep blue eyes, curious, but also restrained and alert. Adrien swallowed.

“Perhaps.” He answered, looking away.

“You said that last night. When are you going to give me an accurate answer? Diana said that I can train now; that I can move just fine.”

“Diana is not your mentor. I am.” Adrien answered with severity. Marco fell silent at once, but didn't look away from him. He was frowning. He clearly didn’t agree with the secretive attitude that Adrien was expressing.

Adrien only looked away and began to serve some of the food that was on the table. Marco on the other hand didn’t move an inch on his chair or showed any desire to eat. Adrien only lasted a couple of mouthfuls of his waffle in complete silence before finally giving up.

“Your training will start tomorrow afternoon. Now you better have breakfast and recover as soon as possible. I won’t be less hard on you just because you were unconscious a couple days ago.” He said, although he didn’t sound very convinced about it.

Adrien looked up then and found himself lost again in Marco’s blue eyes. The kid was looking at him once more with gleaming eyes full of admiration. Adrien swallowed again.

Marco only nodded, and with more desire than ever, he began to serve himself. He needed to prepare himself for what would come the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to let you know, I started writing this fic in summer and got a huge writing block while writing this chapter (the fic was abandoned for like 5 months, tbh). I just changed the POV and everything went far smoother!  
> I hope you're liking the story so far. It only gets better in the next chapters, so wait for them!  
> As usual, I'll upload next chapter on Monday.  
> Thanks for reading! ♥


	4. Secret

“Stop! Please! I need to catch my breath.” Marco finally said, breathless. The training was being harder than he expected. He wanted to show Adrien that he could make it, that he wasn’t frail. But it hadn’t even been necessary. Adrien always managed to push him to exhaustion.

In the end they had decided to wait a couple of days before starting the training, that way, they'd make sure that Marco had recovered from his injuries properly and had obtained enough energy to be able to undergo physical training.

But, of course, Adrien didn’t like to waste time, and that couple of days of rest were used to educate Marco on the most basic foundations of being a hunter.

In that couple of days, Marco learned everything he needed to know about vampires. Their strengths, such as their speed and incredible strength, in addition to their pallor and other distinctive features. But he had also learned their weaknesses and the most effective ways to kill them. Now he knew that garlic and crucifixes were just things from legends. Sunlight didn’t burn them, but it could seriously hinder their vision.

He also learned the different weapons he could use. The most useful ones were the ones made with silver, since it made their wounds deeper or even deadly. Marco would be able to choose the weapon he wanted and the one he felt most comfortable with. Bows, swords, guns or even a crossbow like the one Adrien used.

Once all those questions were learned, it was time to begin physical training.

“I can _hear_ my muscles complaining.” He panted, lying on the floor with his curly dark hair sticking to his forehead. Adrien had managed to knock him down once more and, with determination, was aiming at Marco's neck with the end of his sword.

“You won’t get better at sword fighting if you don’t train.”

Marco snorted. They had been in Adrien’s basement for hours. It was where the training usually took place. The rapid warming up turned into intense sessions in which Marco learned how to use the different weapons available to him. In that way, he’d be able to choose one of them when the right time arrived.

The minute the training started, he decided that he would never fight with a sword in his life.

“What if swords aren’t my thing? Maybe I'm more of gun guy. Or even a dagger guy.”

Adrien simply laughed at his comment, not mockingly, but simply amused. Marco still frowned, tired, sprawled on the floor.

“What? You use a crossbow. That has to be cheating!”

“I also trained like you and got to choose my weapon. Until then you have no choice but to learn how to handle all of them.”

Marco closed his eyes and sighed, unable and no longer willing to continue the training session. Adrien realized he wouldn’t move from the floor and lowered his sword.

“Okay, we can leave it for today.” He finally gave in, resigned. Marco suddenly opened his eyes to look at him and smiled. He straightened up immediately, getting up from the ground, though not without effort. He left his sword on the ground, not bothering to pick it up and climbed from the basement to the main entrance.

He didn’t even bother to put on a coat or somehow improve his sweaty and tired appearance. He left the house without further ado, advancing to the snow-covered garden. He laid down on the soft snow.

His hot skin was refreshed in a second. It wasn’t a good solution at all to his fatigue or his heat. But Marco liked to lie in the snow, as he had learned a couple of days ago when he left the house for the first time and touched it with his hands. From that moment, it had become almost a habit to leave the house to lie in the snow when it was hot or when he finished a workout. Admiring the evening sky made him feel strangely calm.

It was during those times when he didn’t have to worry about not knowing who he was, where he had come from or what he would do next. Vampires and hunters ceased to exist for a moment and there was only him, the snow and the sky above him. Everything was real and safe.

“You’ll catch cold if you stay there for a long time.”

Adrien was watching him from the door, with a kind smile on his lips. He had deigned to put on a coat before leaving the house. Marco had also become accustomed to having him around. Adrien rarely left his side, although Marco was aware that he disappeared in the morning. He sensed that it was to inform the rest of the hunter team of the situation in his house, as Diana had said several days ago. Sometimes Marco felt like a subject of experimentation. But in those moments, laying on the snow, he didn’t care too much about it.

“You should come here. The snow is nice.” He encouraged him. Adrien seemed to hesitate for a second, without taking his eyes off him and still at the entrance to his house, but then he went down the steps to the garden and laid down in the snow beside him. Marco stared at him.

He didn’t say anything yet. He took a moment to enjoy everything. Adrien’s presence was not as stifling as he thought it would be like in the first days at his house. Adrien had stopped asking him questions about who he was and did not press him except when they were training.

Marco had become accustomed to him, to his long silences, to the unexpected but kind smiles and to his gaze always fixed on him. Curiously, the latter still overwhelmed him a little.

“You play the piano?” Marco finally raised his voice. He turned a bit to look at Adrien. He was looking back at him with a somewhat confused look. Marco swallowed. “I've seen that you have one in the living room.”

Adrien looked up at the sky. Marco always wondered what he was thinking when he was silent. This time, the silence didn’t last long.

“It was my mother's.” He answered simply. But that took Marco by surprise.

“Oh...” Was the only thing he was able to say. He also looked at the sky.

Soon the silence spread again between the two. But this time it was not as pleasant for Marco as it had been just a few seconds ago. He knew that Adrien was hiding certain things from him, but he tried not to take it as something personal. He thought that, if he were in Adrien’s shoes, he’d treat a stranger in the same way.

However, Marco couldn’t help but feel curious. He trusted Adrien, but to a certain extent. It was precisely those silences full of secrets that made him feel a bit insecure.

Adrien got up to sit on the snow and ruffled his own brown hair. They still weren’t looking at each other.

“My parents died when I was very young.” He finally explained with a monotone voice. “I think I was... around seven years old. I’d just started my training. There was an attack one night and obviously I couldn’t help because I was too young.”

Marco's eyes turned to the man beside him. The expression Adrien carried was inscrutable. He was serious. The pain he might have felt years ago seemed already extinguished.

“A group of vampires took them both. At least that’s what one of the team’s members told me a few days after the attack. I didn’t have any more family members in the village, so I stayed with Diana's family. She was my friend since we were kids and her parents didn’t mind it. That's why we are so close.”

A smile slipped through when he was talking about the young woman. Marco perceived it quickly. Adrien said nothing else. He simply fell silent, with one hand on his neck. Finally, he let Marco sense a little bit of the grief he felt through a sigh. He looked down.

Marco didn’t know what to say, but he did know he had to say or do something. It was information that Adrien had not shared with him before and it was tremendously important. He also got up to sit on the snow. He wanted to raise a hand to put it on the man's shoulder, but it hesitated on the snow. Then he opened his mouth to speak. But Adrien surprisingly interrupted him.

“That's why we kill them...” He said with solemnity and resentment in his voice. Marco closed his mouth. “Vampires don’t distinguish one life from another. They take them all.”

Adrien looked at him carefully. His hard expression seemed to soften a little. He got up from the ground and brushed the snow off his clothes, turning to see Marco once more.

“You should take a shower and change your clothes. I'll go make dinner.” A small smile returned to his lips. But Marco thought it wasn’t a very honest one. However, the young man simply nodded. Adrien then returned inside the house.

Marco, on the other hand, stayed a while longer on the snow, thinking about many things. It was the first time Adrien had told him something about himself and it was something tremendously personal. The young man understood then why Adrien had become such a lethal hunter and why he resented vampires so much. He was beginning to understand how terrible these creatures were, and for the first time, he sensed and urgent need to deliver justice, to avenge Adrien's family and bring peace back to that village.

Maybe Marco was young. Maybe the subject of vampires and hunters was still very new to him. But for the first time, he felt like trying harder, helping others and fulfilling a purpose for the world. He would become a hunter no matter the cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading and today I wanted to give a special thank you to everyone that left a comment or kudos here. You keep me inspired!  
> As always, I'll see you next Monday with chapter 5!


	5. A Minor Inconvenience

In the end, he caught a cold.

Adrien had warned him many times of the danger of lying in the snow after training, but Marco seemed like one those guys who didn’t listen to such suggestions and now he had received his punishment.

However, Adrien couldn’t help but feel a bit afflicted by Marco's illness. The kid had only been improving since he had started training. His ability to withhold information was amazing and, in fact, in a couple of days, he had managed to gain enough energy to disarm Adrien in one of their training matches. The boy was a learning beast.

If it weren't for his impulsiveness, he’d have already spoken with the rest of the team to make room for him on the next night with an attack. Maybe not as a full member, but simply for him to see what usually happened in a night on the forest. But Marco liked the snow and that would have to wait.

The morning had gone quieter than usual, as neither of them had anything to do. Adrien was preparing lunch while Marco rested in his room, probably covered in blankets and with a feverish expression on his face.

Diana arrived shortly before lunchtime to make a routine visit and examine Marco's condition. As the kid had already learned, Diana was responsible for ensuring the health of the hunters. She was the one who knew more about the injuries vampires could cause. In addition, she had certain abilities that allowed her to predict when the next attacks would happen.

“Where's Marco?” She asked in a calm and slightly worried voice, approaching Adrien to the kitchen. He put out the fire and set aside the food that he was cooking for a moment.

“He’s still in bed. He hasn’t got up all day.” Adrien answered, guiding her through the house to the guest room that had been emptied for Marco when he arrived. Diana nodded quickly and followed him.

As expected, when he opened the door, he found Marco still lying on the bed, practically covered with thick blankets. Adrien stayed at the door, but Diana immediately entered with Zhor, who had suddenly appeared by her side. She looked for a chair to sit next to the bed.

“Hey kid. How are you feeling?” She asked in a soft voice.

Marco glanced at her and smiled briefly.

“It's not that bad. Adrien likes to exaggerate.” Marco answered then, making both Diana and Adrien smile at his comment. The boy still seemed capable of making sharp comments. However, his hoarse voice and poor appearance weren’t that comforting.

Diana put a hand on his forehead to measure his temperature.

“You don’t seem to have a fever, but just in case, don’t strain yourself too much, okay?” Marco nodded and gave Adrien a quick glance before turning his eyes back to Diana.

“I'm not feeling that bad. I'm just a little dizzy and I have this cough that won’t go away.” Adrien could give proof of that. In the past few nights he’d been able to hear Marco cough from his room and it grieved him that he couldn’t do more for him than offer him tea with honey and lemon.

Diana simply nodded, attentive to her own thoughts and the words Marco was telling her. The diagnosis seemed very clear, so she smiled, somewhat relieved.

“It's just a cold, you'll get well in a few days.” She encouraged him. Marco sighed in relief. But that only made him cough a bit at the small effort. “What I should do now is check how your wounds are doing. It’s probably time to take off those bandages.

Adrien often forgot that the boy was still hurt. Marco didn’t seem to have pain problems or tightness in his injuries while training, so he had begun to forget he had them, even when the bandages on his neck and arms were quite noticeable. Diana turned to look at him.

“Adrien, could you leave us for a second?”

He raised a questioning eyebrow, but it didn’t take him too long to turn around and go back to the kitchen, giving them both some privacy.

Since he had begun to monitor Marco's training, Adrien hadn’t stopped thinking about what the future would hold. Not only the boy's, but also his. Marco would probably get into the team of hunters and, over time, he would gain the respect and confidence of the townspeople as he had already done with Adrien. But what would happen after that?

Probably Marco would want to live on his own, and Adrien wouldn’t be able to do much to avoid it. The boy was still new in that town, but Adrien had become used to his presence in those few days. He had practically lived alone since he left Diana's house to settle in his old home. Therefore, the sudden presence of Marco had meant a radical change in his lifestyle. Now he cooked for two, he had to worry about the presence of his guest and take care of his training.

Maybe Marco's arrival had created a gap in his lonely life and Adrien couldn’t say that he didn’t like it.

“Adrien.”

Diana's voice behind him made him come out of his reverie. He had returned to the kitchen to continue cooking, but in the end, he spent his time thinking and didn’t do anything. Adrien turned to look at the girl and found her with her eyes fixed on the dog beside her and rubbing her hands in a worried gesture.

“What’s wrong? Is Marco okay?” He asked quickly, approaching her.

Diana looked up at him and then nodded.

“Yeah… Yes. Marco’s fine. He just needs to rest a little.” The young woman with short hair assured him. Adrien visibly relaxed at her comment. Then he turned around and returned to the fire, this time to continue with what he was supposed to be doing.

“Thank God, you scared me for a second.” He admitted with a brief smile.

He tried to concentrate on what he was doing. He was making a light meal with chicken soup and a little rice with vegetables. Over the days he had learned that Marco didn’t like greasy or fried foods at all, which had forced him to improve his own diet.

Diana approached him and leaned her side against one of the kitchen cabinets. Her gaze was still lost somewhere else.

“Adrien, what do you think about Marco?” She finally asked.

That took the man by surprise. Diana was like a sister to him, which meant dealing with banal subjects like what they did every day, but also issues of the utmost importance. The tone that the girl used seemed to say that they were going to talk about the latter. Adrien glanced at her, searching for the right words.

“He's a good kid.” Was the first thing he said. “He works hard on his training and he’s been taking it very seriously lately. It looks like he really wants to become a hunter regardless of the consequences.”

Diana was very quiet, watching him and waiting for him to continue with her arms crossed over her chest. There was something in her expression that Adrien didn’t quite understand, which was worrisome, since he had lived with her most of his life and thought he understood her well.

“He tries not to look as someone weak or fragile when we're together, either while working out or when we’re just talking. However, I think he still feels a certain distrust of me, but I can’t blame him. I would do the same if I had amnesia too. I wouldn’t mind it if he trusted me a little more, though..." Diana looked up at him once more and Adrien swallowed hard. “What's with the question, by the way?”

She uncrossed her arms and sighed.

“I was just curious. I've never seen you get so familiar with someone so quickly. And with someone you don’t know...” Adrien avoided her gaze by pinning his eyes on what he was cooking and cleared his throat.

“It's... nice having him around, to be honest.” He finally admitted and, without being very aware of it, he raised a hand to ruffle his short brown hair.

Diana pulled away from the closet she was leaning on and absently scratched Zhor's ears, who simply wagged his tail, delighted by the scratches.

“I think I'll leave for today. If Marco starts to feel worse, let me know without hesitation. Don’t give him heavy food and keep an eye on him, okay?”

The girl's concern for the kid slightly surprised Adrien. But he simply nodded.

“Aren’t you going to stay for lunch?” He asked, to which the girl shook her head.

“I have food at home, don’t worry. Take care of the kid, okay?”

She immediately left the kitchen and put on her coat, it was not long before she left the house, leaving Adrien alone in the kitchen with Zhor. The man, somewhat confused by the conversation he had just had with the girl, lowered one of his hands to also scratch the dog's ears.

He didn’t understand Diana's intentions when asking about Marco, but thinking about it wouldn’t make him any less confused. He’d have to wait until the kid felt better in a couple of days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the new chapter! What do you guys think of the story so far? Which character do you like better? Adrien or Marco? Or maybe Diana or Zhor? Let me know in the comments!  
> I also wanted to add that, if you have any issue while reading the story, I'll be gratefull if you leave a comment on that too, as it will help me improve my writing and probably inspire me further.  
> As always, I'll see you next Monday ♥


	6. Unpleasant surprise

Marco was alone in the house again. It was barely six in the afternoon, but it was already dark in that town and, alerted by Diana of a new attack, the hunters had left to guard the village. Marco, on the other hand, had no choice but to stay at home.

It grieved him to know that, if he had already recovered from his cold, he could be with the team at that moment, exploring the forest he hadn't set foot in since he fell unconscious.

Alone at home, he didn’t have much to do other than prepare lemon and honey teas and spend time satisfying Zhor's need to be constantly pampered. Curiously, since he had arrived at that house, the enormous dog had become very fond of him and now he hardly ever left his side.

Marco wandered around the house with a cup of freshly made tea in his hands and with Zhor walking between his legs. The sweater that Adrien had lent him was big on him, like all the other clothes that the elder had left him. But Marco felt comfortable and warm in it, so he didn’t care too much about the size of it.

He had explored the house several times. He knew every room except for one: Adrien's bedroom. The eldest had been very explicit when he arrived at his house: Marco had complete freedom to enter and be wherever he wanted. That included his room. But Marco still felt slightly reluctant. Maybe he thought entering that bedroom would mean invading Adrien's privacy and he was afraid to discover something that perhaps the older one didn’t want him to see. That's why, even on that day, he stayed away from his room.

Instead, he sat down on the sofa carelessly and let the dog sit beside him and rest his snout in his lap.

When Marco finished his tea, he was already tired of not being able to do anything and he got up again, still not knowing what to do.

It was then that something caught his attention. Something he had previously seen, but something he hadn’t gotten close to: Adrien's piano. It was a simple wall piano, without any apparent decoration and not even a single speck of dust on it. Marco approached it curiously, running his fingers through the lid of the piano before opening it.

He sat in the chair facing the piano. There was something about it that was attractive, but Marco couldn’t exactly say what.

He ran his fingertips over the white keys, caressing them carefully before pressing one. The note vibrated strongly in the room. Zhor, still on the couch, raised his ears and turned to look at him. Marco didn’t know what he was doing.

He pressed one key again and then another and another. What looked like a random order of notes wasn’t that at all. The notes formed a complex melody and for a moment, it seemed to dance in his ears. Marco moved his hands guided by a mere instinct. He recognized the melody, but he couldn’t tell where he had heard it before. Holding his breath, Marco continued playing. There was something inside him that longed to get out; emotions that Marco didn’t quite recognize. He felt distressed, but he didn’t know why. A brief image passed through his mind. He saw his same hands on the keys of a piano. But it wasn’t Adrien's.

Like a memory tied to his subconscious and anchored in some way to reality. Marco played the notes he was playing in that same memory and, as the melody progressed, he felt that he could glimpse something beyond the piano in his mind, a more distant, more complex memory. He caressed it with his hands, about to grab it and discover it.

"You know how to play."

A voice behind him made him jump on the spot. He made a mistake on the piano and the melody faded in his mind, ending abruptly. Marco released a sigh he didn’t know he had been holding and turned around.

“Adrien, you're back! Are you okay?" He asked immediately. He himself noticed that his voice was different. He was able to hear his own heartbeat in his ears. Adrien didn’t overlook that. He gave him a quick glance before setting down his crossbow on the floor next to the door and his thick coat on a rack.

"We’re all okay, apparently it was a false alarm." The elder one was quick to explain. Marco calmed down slightly when he heard him, but not completely. "Have you been playing the piano? I didn’t know you could play."

"Neither did I." It was the only thing that Marco said in response. He looked down at the floor, confused and somewhat disconcerted. He opened his mouth to say something else, but the words got stuck on his throat. He coughed lightly. "I was interested in the piano. I just wanted to see it and maybe try playing. And I played, but it was something... a song that I already know. But I don’t know where from."

Marco's gaze was still on the floor. However, Adrien was watching him very closely, paying full attention to his words. Marco swallowed before continuing. "I remembered something... I'm not sure what it was. My hands moved alone on the piano, as if they already knew where they should be placed and what keys they had to press."

He explained quickly. But even he thought that didn’t make any sense. That wasn’t a good explanation at all and Marco knew that. Suddenly he worried about losing Adrien's trust over something like that, as stupid as that sounded in his head. He put a hand to the back of his neck and laughed nervously.

"It's stupid. I think the cold has made me delirious." He said, trying to give a more plausible explanation but only sounding more desperate. Because he didn’t want to sound like a lunatic and even less for Adrien to distrust him. Besides, the elder man had suddenly become very quiet, probably weighing everything Marco had just told him.

"You remembered something of your past?" He finally asked. His voice wasn’t harsh, it didn’t seem to question his words either. He simply spoke with his usual seriousness. Marco nodded.

"It was just an image. Just my hands on a piano, but not yours. I couldn’t remember anything else." Marco was silent as to why he hadn’t been able to see beyond that brief memory. He’d been very close. He’d brushed it with his fingers, but Adrien's appearance had made it disappear. "I'm sorry I played the piano without your permission..." He hurriedly apologized.

Something in Adrien's position seemed to change. His expression turned away from that seriousness and he was slightly worried again. "No, no. It's okay. That’s why it’s here for." He forgave him immediately. Marco looked up to see him.

In Adrien's brown eyes there was no suspicion nor hate. They were his usual brown eyes, warm and confident. Marco sighed lightly and turned to close the lid of the piano. "I'm glad you came back safe. Zhor was very worried." He failed to say that he had been worried to a certain degree too. "And I was getting bored without you around here." He added, this time with a small smile.

He got up from the chair then. But there was something in that little movement that unsettled him. His thoughts began to spin and, once again, he felt everything he was seeing turn white.

Before he could fall to the ground, Adrien's arms wrapped around him, holding him by the shoulders. "Marco? Are you okay?" The older man's voice was slightly unclear in his ears. It took Marco a couple of seconds to regain his balance. He rested a hand on Adrien's chest and did his best not to fall down. Adrien's hands remained firm on his shoulders even though Marco could now stand by his own.

"Yes... Yeah, I just got dizzy when I got up very quickly." Marco explained then. That had been more than a simple dizziness. But Marco was tired of making Adrien worry about him, so it seemed right to lie about it. "I think I should go back to bed." He gave in, before Adrien even suggested it.

The elder moved his hands away, leaving him some space. Curiously, Marco felt the skin of his shoulders slightly warmer after being under Adrien's hands. But he didn’t think much about it. He moved slowly away from him, beginning to walk towards his room.

"Be careful, kid. I'll call Diana tomorrow, so she can take another look at you." Adrien said behind him. Marco simply nodded, without giving any verbal response and closed the door of his room behind him. He went to bed almost instantly, not bothering to put on his pajamas. Within a couple of minutes, he had managed to feel dizzier than ever. The weight of the new memory he had just experienced, and Adrien's unexpected return had perhaps agitated him more than usual. Maybe that's why he’d almost fainted. Maybe that's why he felt so weak now.

Marco took a shaky breath and took better shelter under the blankets, trying to calm his wavering mind enough to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this week's new chapter! As always, you're welcome to leave a comment giving your thoughts and opinions on the story.
> 
> Next week's chapter will be an intense one. Action is finally coming and everything is going down.
> 
> And, of course, Happy Holidays to everyone and Merry Christmas!


	7. 03:13

Something was wrong. Adrien was able to feel it, but he was unable to precisely say what was wrong.

That night he had gone to bed like any other night, but a bad feeling was keeping him awake. He tossed and turned in bed, bothering the dog that slept at his feet. From time to time he looked at the clock on his nightstand. One o’clock. Two o’clock. Half past two. Three o’clock…

When the clock struck three and thirteen, Adrien heard a door open and steps in the hallway. He imagined that Marco had gotten up to go to the bathroom or looking for a glass of water. But the steps were quick and clumsy. The young man's feet tripped over the furniture in the hallway in a rush. Something was wrong.

Adrien took his blankets off, still listening. This time the door that opened was the main one. Adrien jumped out of bed, waking Zhor up unwillingly. He hurried to change his sleepwear and put on his boots. When leaving the room, the first thing he saw was the main door open at the end of the hallway. It was still snowing outside.

Marco had left.

Adrien put on his coat immediately and took his crossbow from the ground, ready to follow in his footsteps. Zhor stopped beside him. Adrien didn’t want him to leave. "You stay here." He told the dog, who immediately stood still.

It wasn’t difficult to follow the trail of Marco's footsteps, which ran through the snow. He was apparently barefoot. The night was dark, and the snow made it difficult for him to see, so she couldn’t discern the boy in the distance. Even so, Adrien kept walking in a hurry and with his heart in his throat. Something was wrong.

He found him at the entrance to the forest, slightly hidden behind the trees. There was something in his figure that Adrien couldn’t make out. He thought about calling him when he realized that Marco wasn’t alone. A young woman with long blond hair was by his side and it seemed as if Marco was kissing her.

At first Adrien thought he was seeing something he shouldn't see, something intimate. But he didn’t look away and sharpened his gaze instead, noticing the details that differentiated that present scene from the more intimate one he had imagined.

Adrien knew that girl. She was the daughter of one of his teammates and she always seemed to have a smile on her face. However, on this occasion, there was no gleam in her eyes and her expression was blank. Marco wasn’t kissing her. He was grabbing her blond hair almost furiously, hiding his mouth into her neck.

The hunter took a step back, feeling his stomach churn as he witnessed the scene. Panic overtook him, but it only lasted a couple more seconds. He swallowed any feeling that lodged in his throat and raised his crossbow to aim at Marco.

"Let her go." He said with a firm tone. His voice seemed to echo in the silence of that night. Marco didn’t move, so Adrien raised his voice in anger. _"Let. Her. Go."_

Marco then looked up for a second and turned to look at Adrien. The hunter felt only more disgusted when he saw the fresh blood staining his lips. Marco's now scarlet eyes looked at him with curiosity. But soon something changed in his expression. His unfocused eyes shifted to see him clearly. Marco blinked once, looking at him, before looking down at the girl he still held in his arms.

There was a pause, one that Adrien didn’t understand. Marco pulled away instantly, releasing the young girl, who fell into the snow with a soft sound. The boy stepped back, his bare feet sliding in the snow, insecure and clumsy. At some point, Marco stumbled, losing his balance and falling on the snow, a few steps away from the girl. His eyes were wide, and he suddenly seemed unable to breathe. Adrien came up to him, still pointing his gun at him.

Marco shanked into himself instantly, covering his head with his arms. "Please," he said in a low voice. Adrien thought it was pitiful to have to hear a plea for his life from a vampire's mouth. He didn’t lower his weapon and Marco began to tremble. " _Please_..." He repeated, but this time it sounded different, it sounded desperate.

"Please, please, please..." He kept repeating as a plea. His broken voice told Adrien that he was crying. "Tell me she isn’t dead. Tell me I didn’t..." He said with a trembling voice, Marco choked back a sob.

Adrien hesitated. He obviously felt betrayed, disgusted and unforgiving. But never, in all his life as a hunter, had he seen a vampire act that way, worrying about the life of another before his own. Marco was on the ground, shrunken and truly terrified. Adrien lowered his crossbow.

But he suddenly heard a voice in the forest behind him. He knew it was the voice of someone from his team. They were still far away, but they were running towards them.

Adrien didn’t have time to think. Something inside him tugged at his body and, bending down, he grabbed Marco by the arm and pulled him up. "They're coming." It was the only thing he said before starting to run away from there, still grabbing the boy's arm.

He couldn’t think. He was doing something wrong. Everything was _wrong_. Confusion grew inside him with each step he took, and his emotions stirred inside him like a whirlwind. In the sea of doubt inside his head there was only one coherent idea: to go home. His house was the only safe place he knew now, a place where they wouldn’t be discovered. He took a dirt road that would hide his footsteps better than the snow. It only took them just a couple of minutes to get home, Adrien was still holding Marco’s arm.

Zhor started barking when he heard them arrive, but Adrien didn’t have time to pay attention to him. He closed the front door at once and guided Marco down the hallway in a hurry to take him to the bathroom.

Adrien couldn’t look him in the face. Although he was able to hear his brief sobs and perceive his tremors out of the corner of his eye. But he still couldn’t look up to see his face. He knew that the feeling of betrayal would only grow if he saw his face covered in blood. He went to the sink, finally leaving the crossbow on the ground in a hurry. He took several of his towels and soaked them with water.

"Adrien..." Marco's tone was careful, insecure and filled with fear. Adrien just frowned a little more, trying to hurry. "Adri..."

Someone knocked on the front door. There was another pause in which only the water in the running sink was heard. The two men went very quiet, waiting. But someone knocked on the door again and the pause ended. Marco flinched, and Adrien cursed under his breath. He practically pushed the wet towels against Marco. "Wash yourself." It was the only thing he said before leaving the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

He walked to the front door. Zhor was next to him again. Adrien took a moment to regain his composure, to take a breath. But in his mind, everything was still chaos. Because the things he was doing were wrong. He was sheltering a vampire and that was the biggest betrayal in his team.

He tried not to let his nervousness show on his face when he opened the door. On the other side was one of his teammates, sweaty and disheveled. He had come running. "Adrien! Thank God. Are you and Marco okay?" Adrien could only nod, still feeling unable to give a better answer. "Thank goodness. There’s been an attack tonight. They’ve found Watterson's daughter in the woods. They're taking her to Diana now. Some men are combing the forest, but the vampire responsible hasn’t been found yet." The man informed him. Adrien did his best to put on a surprised face. The man seemed to believe it, and in an exasperated gesture, he ran a hand over his sweaty face.

"I'm just making sure everyone’s okay. Where’s Marco, by the way?" He suddenly asked. And the question made Adrien's blood run cold. Because his answer would condition his future. If he turned Marco in, he’d be free of guilt. But if he hid him...

"He’s..." He started, unsure. "He's taking a shower..." He said then. He felt the enormous weight of guilt settle on his shoulders, but the man in front of him didn’t seem to notice. He simply nodded slowly.

"Well, I'm glad you guys are okay." He finally said, without making a big deal out of it. "Remember that there’ll be a meeting in the morning." And with that said, he turned to leave. Adrien closed the door. His hands were shaking. He had made a mistake and he was well aware of it. Things were wrong, but they were getting even worse with every passing second.

He returned to the bathroom. When he opened the door, he found Marco shrinking into himself on the floor. His clothes and hair were soaked, and he was desperately covering his face. Adrien crouched in front of him. "It’s... it's not going away." Marco murmured, his voice still trembling. "It just…"

Seeing that Marco only shrank more in his place on the floor, Adrien raised a hand and grabbed his wrist, forcing him to discover himself. But Marco tried to stop him. Irritated, Adrien held his chin, so he could see his face. At least the boy had done a good job cleaning himself up. There was no trace of blood on his white skin. However, Marco was still closing his eyes tightly.

"Open your eyes." Adrien said then. There was no room for concessions in his tone. Marco flinched a little more. _"Look at me."_ He repeated. And this time his voice returned to the aggressiveness of a couple of minutes ago in the forest. Marco opened his eyes slowly. He’d seen them before in the forest, but not so clearly as this time. There was no longer room for the usual calm blue in Marco's eyes. They were now flooded with a violent red.

Adrien released him then and stood up to avoid looking at him. He tried to regain his composure once more. But it was difficult to contain his emotions. He felt betrayed by Marco, angry and at the same time desperate and guilty. His shoulders were tense. "The red will disappear within a few hours." He informed him then.

He heard Marco's short gasp, as if he wanted to say something, but Adrien didn’t let him say one more word. "Finish cleaning yourself up and change your clothes. You're soaking wet." He said before leaving the bathroom.

Zhor was next to him again. The hunter put his hands to his head and took a breath, letting it escape in a loud sigh. He didn’t want to think, but at the same time he felt that he had to. He had to find a solution to his problem. But at the same time, he didn’t want to deal with Marco that night. He needed to process it, look for solutions on his own without having to face the young man.

He fled to the only place he knew Marco wouldn’t enter: his bedroom. But that night he knew he wouldn’t sleep. He had things to think about and he had to stay focused. Now he knew that he was housing a vampire and only an unwary person would sleep under those circumstances. He heard Marco's footsteps coming out of the bathroom. His feet stopped in the hallway, but they immediately resumed their course. The last thing he heard that night was the closing of the boy's room door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on everything will be different. What will Adrien think of Marco now? Will Marco be able to explain himself?
> 
> As always, thanks for reading! I promised some angsty stuff on the story, so here it is! I hope you like the new turn of events and don't mind that this chapter was a bit longer than usual. I'll see you guys next week for chapter 8. Happy New Year, everyone!


	8. Destiny

There was no point in keeping the bandages on his neck now that he knew his wounds had healed. When Marco analyzed himself in the mirror, he saw the same guy he had seen a couple of days ago. His eyes were blue again. His fangs were back to normal size in his mouth and his lips and skin were no longer stained red. However, it was clear that things had changed.

Marco was alone in the house again, with Zhor accompanying him wherever he went. Adrien had left, and Marco couldn’t do anything but wait impatiently for him to come back with news.

But even when Adrien came through the front door after several hours of waiting, he didn’t look at Marco. He took off his coat with patience, as if nothing else mattered. His face was expressionless again. Marco swallowed hard and forced himself to talk first.

"The girl... Is she okay?" He asked, turning around on the sofa and not taking his eyes off Adrien.

"You could see it that way. She's alive, but she hasn’t woken up yet." The hunter replied. And his tone, like his expression, didn’t say much about how he was feeling. Without saying anything else, Adrien started walking towards his room.

Marco almost jumped to his feet. He couldn’t let Adrien hide in his room again as he had done the night before.

"Adrien, please. I just want to talk." He said with urgency. Adrien halted.

"About what? About how you lied to me?" Those words took Marco by surprise. But Adrien didn’t stop and turned to look at him very intently this time. "I trusted you. I _trusted you_ , I let you into my home and you _lied_ to me. "

Marco took a step back from the aggressiveness in Adrien's tone. He had thought about what to say to the hunter to regain his confidence during the night and following morning. But Adrien spoke to him with a harshness Marco had never heard from him before and certainly wasn't expecting.

"I didn’t know... I just..." He stuttered. Adrien looked away, with a pained smile on his lips.

"Oh, how convenient for you, isn’t it? What are you going to say? That you couldn’t remember being a vampire? That you… suddenly realized something so important last night?"

"I wasn’t..." Marco didn’t know what to say. This wasn't how he had planned this conversation and Adrien practically wasn’t letting him talk or explain himself. Although his mind was so confused anyway that he doubted he could give a good explanation.

Marco couldn’t do anything but stare at the ground, trying to think about what to say. Adrien didn’t have much more to say either, since his decision seemed to be final. The silence stretched between them for what seemed like hours until Adrien finally sighed and put a hand to his short hair.

"Let's get this over with. This can’t go on. I can’t... shield you anymore."

Marco looked up at Adrien. He knew what words would come next and he raised his voice to try and stop them. "Adrien, no, wait..." But the hunter was tired of waiting.

"You can stay tonight, but you'll leave tomorrow morning." He said decisively, avoiding Marco's gaze.

The young man was silent, too dumbfounded to say anything else. He knew an apology wouldn’t be enough to revoke that decision, nor an explanation, much less a plea, so Marco remained silent, not knowing what to do.

Adrien didn’t wait for his decision. Once he had finished his sentence, he turned around and resumed his course to his room, closing the door so that Marco stayed outside of it.

 

* * *

 

 

That night, just as the previous one, Adrien was unable to sleep. Zhor, on the other hand, was snoring at his feet, scattered on the bed. Adrien still didn’t want to think about all the issues in his head, but because he couldn’t sleep, he was incapable of not doing so. He was still struck with that heavy feeling of betrayal, of deceit, but also of self-doubt.

He looked at the clock again. One o’clock. Two o’clock. Half past two. Three o’clock...

And he heard footsteps in the hallway again.

But they weren’t like the ones from the night before. These steps were not in a hurry, they were slow and deliberate. They stopped in the middle of the hall. Adrien needed a few more seconds to react. Trying to make as little noise as possible, he removed the blankets and got out of bed slowly. The idea of taking the silver dagger he kept on his nightstand went through his mind, but he discarded it for the time being. He walked to the door with determination and a catlike silence, finally opening it slowly.

Marco froze in the middle of the hallway and stared at him with wide eyes. He was only a few steps away from his door and his bemused expression showed that he had been caught by surprise. The young man looked away and swallowed.

"Sorry. I just... I didn’t mean to..." He babbled in a low voice. His breathing was slightly jagged. He took a breath once. "I can’t sleep..." He said, but that sentence sounded more like a desperate sigh than a simple comment.

Adrien looked him up and down once. The boy, still in his pajamas, with wild bed-hair and fidgeting, didn’t look much like a threat. The hunter contemplated his alternatives and finally stepped aside at the door. "Come in." He said, making room for Marco to come inside.

Marco looked into his eyes briefly but didn’t miss the opportunity that was being offered to him and entered the room without hesitation. Adrien knew he hadn’t set foot in his room yet, so he left him time to get used to it. Marco, just as he had expected, scanned the room attentively for a few seconds, unsure of how to proceed.

Adrien followed his steps around the room. The young man seemed to hesitate before sitting on the edge of the bed. Adrien stood by the door with his arms folded across his chest.

"I can’t stop thinking about it." Marco said in a voice full of distress. "I just... I didn’t know... I just woke up at night and I remember feeling so... _hungry_." The word sounded desperate. Adrien crinkled his nose but remained silent. Eventually, Marco continued. "My body moved on its own and suddenly you were there..."

There was a pause in which Adrien realized that Marco was shivering. He had his hands clasped tightly on his lap.

"Every time I close my eyes I can see her. I see that girl... lying in the snow." There was desperate honesty in his voice. The young man buried his head in his hands and hid from Adrien's eyes. He heard him stifle a sob. "Adrien, please... I don’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t want to lose control again."

Marco's voice ended up breaking and the crying that the boy seemed to have been holding throughout the conversation came to light, causing the young man to shrink into himself a little more as he tried to unsuccessfully silence his sobs.

Adrien was unable to remain still in his place. He approached Marco cautiously and crouched in front of him, so he could look at his face. But the boy was doing his best to hide himself behind his closed fists. Adrien swallowed hard, suddenly overwhelmed by the desperation that Marco so helplessly tried to hide. He reached up tentatively to touch Marco's shoulder. "Hey... it's okay."

But the young man's anxiety didn’t subside. "I can’t leave now. I have nowhere else to go."

And Adrien came a little closer and gently took Marco's hands away from his face. But the boy still seemed unable to look at him. Thick tears streaked across his cheeks. It was the first time Adrien saw a vampire crying. But it was also the first time he saw Marco crying. And that last detail beat the first one. Adrien swallowed again.

"It's okay. You don’t have to leave tomorrow." He finally said, his voice soft and calm. Maybe he was making a mistake, but something inside him told him that he would be able to fix it later, when Marco had stopped his tears.

The young man, at his words, finally looked up to see him directly in the eyes. And Adrien was awed again by those beautiful blue eyes full of admiration and hope. Marco looked as if he had stars in his eyes. They were the same eyes that he’d seen when he’d met Marco. The same eyes he’d seen when he promised he’d train him. Days had passed since then. He had discovered new and terrifying things about Marco. But something as simple and at the same time as overwhelming as a look in Marco’s eyes, remained the same despite everything that had happened.

Adrien felt a sting in his chest when he saw the young man in front of him so broken and at the same time so hopeful for words as simple as those he had just said.

"We'll figure something out, okay?" Adrien said and then raised a hand to cup Marco's face and wipe away the tears that still trickled down his cheeks with his thumb. The boy sighed quietly and slowly raised his hand to hold it over Adrien's.

"Okay..." He replied.

Then Adrien got up and slowly walked away from Marco. The boy followed him with his gaze as he skirted the bed and bent down to stroke Zhor's back, who flinched in his sleep. The room was silent again. Marco was still slightly overwhelmed by the conversation, but he had managed to calm down at least a little.

"Do you want to stay here tonight?" Adrien finally asked. And this time, looking directly at Marco's face, he could clearly see how he became a bit confused by his sudden question.

"What...?" He asked, disconcerted. "You mean like… sleeping here? But there’s only one bed."

"Do you mind that?" Adrien asked back. And Marco fell silent for a moment.

Adrien, of course, had his reasons for suggesting something like that. It wasn’t the affection he still felt towards Marco that pushed him to it. At least he forced himself to think that wasn’t the reason. Adrien simply couldn’t leave him alone that night after seeing him so broken and, by doing that, he would also keep an eye on the boy to make sure that nothing got out of hand again.

Marco, still with some doubt in his eyes, climbed under the blankets, facing the other side of the room so as not to look at Adrien. The hunter also chose to keep the distances. Although he didn’t mind that, at some point in the late night, Marco turned around in his sleep and came a little closer to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks so much for reading! You're free to leave a comment on what you like and what you dislike about the story. Thanks for the feedback so far, for the kudos and for every hit!
> 
> We're learning that Adrien has a soft heart for Marco, but how long will it last? And also... "Oh no, there's only one bed" ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	9. New Rules

When he woke up in the morning, the room was lightly lit thanks to the morning light that came through the curtains. Marco shifted in bed, with sleep still stuck in his eyes and his body. He wasn’t in his usual bed, but that didn’t bother him too much. The large space next to him was now empty and the mattress cold. Adrien had been up for quite some time.

Marco still needed a few more minutes to stretch before getting out of bed. Zhor was still lying on it, sleeping soundly. Now that Adrien wasn’t there, Marco took a moment to wander around Adrien's room as to see it better.

The huge bed took up most of the room space. Beside it were two bedside tables practically empty. In front of it, a built-in wardrobe and, on one side, a huge dresser to store clothes. Marco stood by it with curiosity and inspected the photographs placed on top of it. He could easily distinguish several people on the pictures, like Adrien and Diana as children and a photo of when they were a little older. But there was a picture whose characters Marco didn’t know: a young man and a woman smiling at the camera.

It took Marco just a moment to realize that they were probably Adrien's parents and he was immediately overwhelmed by a sense of uneasy intimacy that made him walk away from the dresser.

The rest of the room was quite normal. A carpet on the floor, some wall pictures... Everything was surprisingly clean and organized. Daylight came through two huge windows. Adrien liked to sleep with the blinds up, just as Marco had learned that night. But that didn’t bother him too much. He liked how luminous the entire house was, the warm and neutral colors on every piece of furniture and on the walls. Marco felt that in that house he could breathe calmly.

Once he finished looking around, he left the room. He crossed the corridor to the kitchen, and there he found Adrien with his back to him, pouring himself some coffee into a mug.

"Good morning." Marco greeted him, his voice still hoarse from sleep. Maybe it would’ve been a better idea to change his pajamas and fix his crazy bed-hair before going to the kitchen.

"Good morning." Adrien replied then, turning around to look at him. He seemed to assess his appearance for a second, to which Marco stood still, feeling a little uneasy. But his scrutiny ceased immediately when Adrien brought the cup of coffee to his lips.

Marco decided to imitate him. "Can I have some coffee?" He asked.

"You want coffee?" Adrien returned the question. He wasn’t questioning him, he was asking with genuine curiosity. Marco hadn’t thought until that moment that, perhaps, he didn’t need human food to feed himself anymore. On the previous day he hadn’t eaten anything, but that had been because his anxiety wouldn’t let his stomach accept any food. However, as for now, his whole body was pleading for a cup of coffee.

"Sure." He replied then. While Marco poured himself some coffee in a mug, Adrien quickly changed the subject. The change didn’t please Marco very much.

"Last night... I said you could stay here if you wanted to." Adrien began cautiously. Marco looked at him briefly. "But if you're going to stay, you're going to have to follow some rules. Is that okay?"

"What kind of rules...?" Marco asked, inquisitive.

"Common-sense rules." Adrien replied, clearing his throat slightly. "For example, rule number one and the most important one would be to not eat anyone."

Marco stared at him for a moment. It seemed slightly absurd for Adrien to elaborate a rule like that. That wasn’t common sense, it was simple ethics as a person not to kill anyone. Even so, he simply nodded. "Keep going."

"Rule number two is a bit more complicated. If you’re hungry, you’ll go hunting animals in the forest. And you shall never do so without my supervision. "

That was perhaps more complicated, as Adrien had pointed out. Marco was still discovering the limits of his nature. He had no idea how strict his diet could be. But, again, it seemed like a common-sense rule. He nodded again and brought the cup of coffee to his lips.

"And rule number three..." Adrien began. But he stopped halfway, suddenly focused on the way his own shirt was slowly slipping off Marco’s right shoulder. Marco was too focused on his coffee to notice Adrien's distraction. "...We need to get you new clothes."

At that, Marco did raise his eyes, confused by those words. "What?"

But their conversation was cut again by the abrupt arrival of Diana. Marco began to wonder if the girl with short hair didn’t really live there without him noticing. Diana liked to spend a lot of time around the house to ask how they were doing and, if possible, to steal some breakfast.

Adrien seemed strangely relieved and glad to see her.

"Diana! You are just in time. Do you still keep at home any of the clothes I used when I was younger?" Adrien asked without bothering to say hello first.

Diana simply took off her coat and glanced at him. "No, I burned it all. Why?"

Adrien snorted at her response, to which Diana simply smiled mischievously and went to the kitchen to keep them company. "I was thinking about getting Marco some new clothes. Mine are too big on him and I can’t lend him my clothes forever. "

Diana's eyes shone with excitement at Adrien's comment. Marco simply tried to become unnoticeable behind his mug.

"Do you mean you’re planning on giving him a makeover? Because, to be honest with you, that's the best idea you've had in years and I'm definitely up for it." Diana said, enthusiastic about the idea. However, Adrien had other plans.

"I said that _I_ wanted to get him some new clothes." The hunter replied. "I’m his guardian anyway."

Diana frowned and crossed her arms, sharpening her gaze on Adrien. The hunter didn’t buy her attitude and tried to hide his smile. "Now you’re just being mean. Why do you always leave me out of things like this? You know I love makeovers. Do you really think you have a better fashion sense than me just because you're gay?"

Marco choked on his coffee. Adrien, however, let in a faint expression of panic for a second, his brown eyes fixed on his friend. Diana didn’t realize that she had just outed Adrien until seconds later, when the silence in the room became tense.

"What's wrong?" She asked first. Then she said "Oh..." And her gaze moved away from Adrien quickly. The young woman bit her lower lip. Her extroverted and slightly sassy attitude calmed down instantly.

Marco shot Adrien a quick glance, but the hunter was still looking at Diana.

"I think... I'm going to leave you two alone for today..." The young woman said, slowly and carefully retreating, as if Adrien were a bomb about to explode. She picked up her coat at the entrance and turned to Marco this time. "I'm glad you took off those useless bandages, by the way. You look better like this." She added, before leaving.

Marco stared at the door for longer than he should have, wide-eyed and with his lips slightly parted. What had she meant by that? Did Diana know...?

"I didn’t want to talk about this." Adrien suddenly said, interrupting his thoughts. The older man sighed, and Marco then gave him his full attention. He was ruffling his short brown hair nervously.

"Then it's true." Marco said in a soft voice. Adrien gave him a fierce look.

"You have a problem with it?" He asked suddenly, and Marco quickly shook his head.

"No, I just didn’t think you'd be gay..." He answered immediately. The truth is that he hadn’t even had time to think about it. When Adrien confirmed that he and Diana weren’t a couple, Marco's inquiry into the hunter’s private life had completely ceased. Now his perspective on it had changed.

Adrien sighed again. "Well, yeah... nobody really knows except for Diana... and you now." The hunter's voice was calm and restrained again. Marco knew nothing of Adrien's private life, but he never would’ve guessed that the subject would be so sensitive to him. "Keep it a secret for now, will you?"

Marco simply nodded. There was no need for Adrien to ask him that, though. He knew that it was not in his hands to talk about something like that with another person. It was something private and it was in Adrien's hands to decide whom he wanted to tell or not.

The hunter left his coffee cup in the sink and left the kitchen without further ado, leaving Marco alone for a moment. The young man brought his mug back to his lips when he heard Adrien's voice from the hallway.

"Go get dressed, we have shopping to do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading for another week! Today I wanted to ask if you're happy about the length of the chapters. Are they too long or too short? Let me know in the comments!
> 
> See you next Monday


	10. This is not a date.

"You didn’t have to buy all of this." Marco muttered under his breath, carrying several bags in both his hands. Adrien glanced at him and smiled softly.

"If you're worried about money, don’t be." The hunter replied, sensing that this was Marco's main concern in all this. "Citizens pay us quite well so we can keep them safe. Money isn’t a problem."

"It has nothing to do with how much you spend. The problem is that I don’t know how I'm going to repay you." Marco continued, still worried about the matter. Adrien only chuckled, completely unconcerned. Money wasn’t a thing Adrien was worried about anyway.

They had spent most of the morning among small local shops, looking for clothes that Marco liked and were his size. Adrien was surprised to realize that the boy had better taste in clothes than he had thought at first.

He liked vintage clothes, long jackets and denim. He preferred to wear clothes that narrowed in the right places. But overall, he liked comfy and a bit oversized clothes. Adrien couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy the experience in its entirety.

The shopping spree came to an end when neither of them could carry more bags full of clothes or shoes. Then Adrien proposed something different: a break, a stop before returning home.

When Adrien suggested going for an ice cream, Marco looked at him as if he had lost his mind, to which Adrien had argued that ice cream tasted better in winter, since you could enjoy it more than in summer, when you just ate it in desperation. Despite his heartfelt explanation, he failed to convince Marco, who finally chose to have a warm chocolate crepe while Adrien had his favorite double vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

By the end of the day, it all had been more pleasant than Adrien had planned. He was surprised at the easiness with which he could talk to Marco. The kid always answered his questions and listened with full attention when he explained something, however banal it was.

Adrien found himself forgetting the terrible truth behind those natural and cheerful expressions and those bright blue eyes. However, forgetting that crucial detail made him feel less worried so maybe it wasn’t that bad at all.

When the sun began to set in the middle of the afternoon, Adrien was forced to end the day and suggested going back home, to which Marco easily agreed, probably because he was tired of carrying all his clothes around the streets.

However, someone stopped them on their way.

"Adrien! I'm glad to see you. What are you doing around here?"

It was Robert Watterson, his teammate and the father of the young woman of the forest. He was the least person Adrien wanted to see in that particular moment. The man, already in his forties, had strong features and his hair was starting to turn gray. His eyes were sunken and tired; however, he was smiling slightly.

Without realizing it, Adrien discreetly took a step forward and placed himself in front of Marco, trying to hide him from Robert's view.

"Good afternoon, Robert. We just went out for a while to buy Marco some new clothes." He replied then. Robert tried to take a look at Marco, who was still behind him. Adrien interrupted him with a question. "How are you? What were you doing around here? "

At that, the man's face soured noticeably. Adrien had a bad feeling. "Oh, nothing much... I was just going to Diana's house to check on Lizzie."

That was the topic of conversation that Adrien wanted to avoid at all costs, especially since Marco was with him. He cleared his throat, trying to control his voice to make it sound stable. "How is she?" It was a simple question with an apparently simple answer: getting better or worse. From there, Adrien could look for an excuse to leave.

"Diana keeps saying that she’s okay, that her wounds are healing, but she still isn’t waking up." The man replied with a downcast expression. That was the answer Adrien needed. But then Robert continued. "I swore to her that if I found the fucking vampire who left her half dead in the woods, I would cut off its neck without hesitation."

Adrien felt a chill run down his spine. He refrained from looking back as to avoid being obvious. Robert's expression changed in front of him. He tried to put aside the bitterness he was feeling and came a bit closer again to take a look at the boy that Adrien still shielded behind his back.

"So, this guy is Marco, huh?" He asked with a smile. Adrien turned around then. But Marco wasn’t looking at either of them.

"Sorry, I have... to leave" He said in a low voice. And Adrien's hands were too busy holding the bags to grab his arm when the boy hurried off in another direction.

Adrien turned to Robert briefly and said a short ‘Goodbye’ before following Marco in a hurry. The kid, however, didn’t go too far.

He found him sheltered in a nearby and empty alley, with his back to the wall and the bags he carried scattered on the floor. Adrien approached him cautiously. Marco spoke first.

"I'm sorry..." He muttered with a small voice. Adrien had heard that same panic the previous night. He had heard that unstable breathing, the tremor in each inhalation. Marco was trembling, clinging to the wall as if afraid of falling and, with one hand, he was holding his chest, which rose and fell with his inconstant breaths. He was hyperventilating. He was having a panic attack.

Adrien dropped his bags in a hurry and placed himself in front of him, holding his face as he had done that same night. "Marco, look at me." He asked. And there was no aggressiveness in his voice. He didn’t want to scare the kid, he just wanted him to listen. Marco's blue eyes took several seconds to settle on his. " _Breathe_. Take a breath with me, okay?" He said slowly, making sure Marco understood him. He took an exaggerated breath once and let it escape through his mouth. He repeated that same gesture over and over again.

At first, Marco's breathing remained dangerously agitated, but with the passing of minutes, with his eyes fixed on Adrien's eyes, he managed to keep up with his rhythm, adapting to his breathing. Marco was still trembling when he rested his forehead against Adrien's chest, visibly tired and still somewhat agitated.

Marco's sudden closeness took Adrien by surprise, but it wasn’t long before he wrapped his arms around the young man's shoulders, hugging him warmly.

Adrien unconsciously realized that Marco smelled like freshly made coffee and chocolate from the crepe he had just eaten.

"It’s okay." He said in a quiet voice. "He doesn’t know anything. Nobody knows anything. You’re safe."

But Marco stirred at that comment and moved slowly away, leaving a small space between them. His gaze was fixed somewhere deeper in the alley.

"That's not the problem." He said. His voice remained slightly unsteady, but there was a certain firmness in it. "It's that girl, Lizzie. I was the one who left her like that. I was the one who hurt her and left her in the woods. I could have killed her. I would have done it if it weren’t for... " But Marco stopped there, his eyes still fixed elsewhere.

Adrien, however, looked at him with great attention. "Keep going. If it weren’t for _what_?" He said then, encouraging him to finish that sentence. Marco remained silent. "If it weren’t for me." He finished it for him.

Marco looked at him then. There was a certain gloom in his eyes, but also consolation. Adrien continued. "I was there to avoid it, so you wouldn’t kill anyone. And I’ll also be there in case you lose control, so you won’t hurt anyone again. Marco, I’ll always be there for you."

And in Marco's eyes he saw a crack, something deeper, more beautiful than that glimmer of hope and wonder. He saw honesty and he also saw newfound trust. But it lasted a moment before Marco rested his forehead against his chest, hiding himself again. Adrien was dazed by that gesture once more.

"I want to go home." Marco whispered. And Adrien put his arms around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading for another week! I'll see you next Monday for chapter 11!


End file.
